Video games have always been seen as having a negative impact on people’s lives by making them feel lazy and regressing their development of social interaction. However, Jane McGonigal poses another side of video games that we tend to forget exists. The following is about an excerpt from Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal, published in 2011 by The Penguin Press.

Jane McGonigal
Source: EVOKE

Jane McGonigal is an American game designer who specializes in pervasive games and alternate reality games (ARGs). Currently, she is the Director of Game Research & Development at the Institute for the Future, while being the Chief Creative Officer at SuperBetter Labs. She previously taught game design and game studies at the San Francisco Art Institute & UC Berkeley. Many years ago Jane had suffered from a serious concussion, and she created a multiplayer game for anyone to play to help her get through this time. She has received many awards for being a powerful woman in the video gaming world.

First, McGonigal talks about how many full-day workers are the people who consume videogames, and apply the talents that are underutilized at work. These smarts are used to plan and coordinate “complex raids and quests in massively multiplayer online games.” Also, she continues to state how real life should be structured as a game, and how videogames bring together people in ways that reality cannot.

“The truth is this: in today’s society, computer and video games are fulfilling genuine human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy. Games are providing rewards that reality is not. They are teaching and inspiring and engaging us in ways that reality is not. They are bringing us together in ways that reality is not.”

Jane attempts to justify this statement by talking about the opening book of The Histories, in which stories of Herodotus and the ancient Lydians showed how games may be a purposeful escape.

However, I find Jane’s argument a little extreme and close-minded. Although there are skills that are utilized while playing video games, these skills are rarely used in real life situations. For example, in first-person shooter games, players are required to use guns to shoot other players or targets. This skill is not used in any way in real life, because the mechanics of using the gun in the game are completely different than when using a gun in person.

Video Games
Source: The Gaea Times

Overall I enjoyed reading this excerpt because it was very interesting to read this perspective. I have never heard of such an argument so it was peculiar to understand her reasoning, although they did not persuade me to agree with her.

Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World